I perceive that spiritual warfare is more intense than at any time in my life previously, and it appears to be still increasing in intensity ~ and I don't mean on the devil's part primarily. But God is doing a deep work among the Remnant. Meanwhile, the apostates seem to be drifting ever farther out to sea. The divide between "possessors" and "professors" is already wide and growing wider. At the same time the world in general is evidently losing its mind completely; and not just involving "gender" issues. But even trivial matters which until recently would not have provoked anyone's ire, can now trigger outright rage. People are increasingly out of control.
I believe that the growing intemperance and hostility is a sign of despair. Everyone senses that things are on the verge of collapse, and that no one has any real answers or solutions. The culture of criminality~from the highest levels of government all the way down to local township councils, has left working-class people feeling like we've returned to the days of the "Old West," where it's "every man for himself." A spirit of pervasive lawlessness is identified, in Scripture, as being a distinctive sign of the end of the Church Age. Believe me, we're there.
Yet, there are far more evil and deadly forces trying to emerge from out of the pit, literally. Keep in mind that we are in a time of Great Transition; thus, those hellish conditions which shall obtain during the soon-coming Tribulation must already be trending toward that time when "men [will] seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them" (Revelation 9:6).
"Have you come to torment us before the time?" the demons fearfully asked Jesus. "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, for he knoweth that he hath but a short time" (Revelation 12:12). Evidently Satan and his demons know that, after thousands of years, the time of their doom is now at the door. But do we? No, I don't mean "intellectually," merely ~ as if understanding something about Bible prophecy were in itself sufficient to protect against demonic attacks. But I mean, are we conscious of the fact that ALL the powers of hell shall very soon be put down; but, until then, they are not going to just roll over and play dead?
Spiritual warfare is not a game, but it is deadly serious business. How many souls may depend upon whether or not I give myself to intercessory prayer?
I recently finished reading a superb biography of James Fraser. At 22 years old and unmarried, he went to serve as a missionary in south-central China in the very early 1900s. He was drawn in his heart to work among a large indigenous tribal group named the Lisu, whose culture was very primitive. They had never before seen a white man, much less had they ever heard the Gospel. After five years of continuous labor in that region (without any assistance), Fraser had won no converts to Christ.
It was during the rainy season when, at 27 years old and alone in a ramshackle hut 10,000 feet up on a mountainside, the devil came in fury against Fraser. Depression turned into despair, which soon then became a daily battle against thoughts of suicide. In desperation, Fraser poured over the Bible, as well as he read and re-read a magazine called "The Overcomer." After a lengthy and decisive battle, to quote Fraser's biographer: "There in that poor shack, the victory was won that was to mean life to thousands."
Fraser could not have then known that, only three years later, God would begin to reward that young man's faithful labors and prayers with a harvest that would eventually number many thousands of souls won to Christ.
Fraser later said: "I used to think that prayer should be given the first place, and teaching the second. But I came to learn that prayer should be given the first place, and the second place, and the third place; and teaching, the fourth."
With respect to Christians and Revival, there are four possibilities; either: 1) we do not know the mind and promises of God concerning Revival; or, 2) we do not believe those promises; or, 3) we do not care about the need of Revival; or, 4) we do know, we do believe, and we do care: therefore, we are earnestly seeking God in prayer for Revival. Will you, for the truth's sake, be honest enough to judge which of those possibilities best describes you? For, that judgment ~ if you do not honestly confront and deal with it now, you surely must confront it afterwards, at the Judgment Seat of Christ. But, then, it will be too late.
I've hungrily studied Revival, for the past ten years or more. I've learned that most Christians neither understand what true Revival is, nor do they understand how that Revival comes. But the most alarming thing I've learned is that most Christians don't care whether Revival ever comes; and, they are apathetic regarding prayer. Well, that is nothing else but apostasy. Because that condition prevails throughout the vast majority of America's churches: I've been saying, for the past several years, that Revival is not essentially going to come to or through the churches. But if Revival may come, it will only come because that a faithful and earnest Remnant is diligently seeking God in prayer for Revival.
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Obviously, I'm trying to impress upon your mind the tremendous need for Revival, and for prayer for that. Yet I must move on to discuss in some detail what I referred to, in part 6 of this series, as "my vision for Revival ~ and for Tozer's New Ark." What follows in this essay, then, is for those who see the great need for Revival, and who are willing to pay the price for that in prayer.
There is only one thing that, according to God's will, can bring Revival, that is, prevailing prayer of upright saints. Revival is God's answer to honest, earnest prayer; as seen in the following promise of Scripture:
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)What is so urgently and desperately needed, then, is a real and substantial prayer effort; I would say, a prayer Movement. But my studies of Revival also have shown that, at least in the many instances of Revival which I have studied both in the Word of God and in Church history, God's answer of Revival has never appeared as the result of a very large number of people praying. Among the examples I have studied, the 120 or so who met to pray in the "upper room," in the opening chapters of the book of Acts, was one of the larger prayer groups which I have discovered, in connection with Revival.
There does lately appear to be some movement (small 'm') related to pray and Revival. There is an online (Internet) campaign, called "One Cry," which is promoting prayer for Revival. But that is evidently limited to encouraging individuals to pray for Revival. That of course is good and necessary; and that is what I am doing in the context of this blog. But that is not enough. Rather, I believe that a coordinated effort to bring numbers of individuals to pray together, is necessary. And here is my "vision" for how that may be done.
Covenant Prayer Squad (CPS)
Just as a "squad" is the basic fighting unit of military forces worldwide; likewise, what I have termed a "Covenant Prayer Squad" (or CPS, for short) is the basic unit in my vision for building a prayer Movement (capital 'M').
A CPS, like a military squad, is comprised of about a half dozen members (give or take a couple of members). There are numerous and significant advantages to building prayer groups of that size (as I discussed in part 6 of this series); among which, advantages, unity and stability are two of the most important.
The foundation of a CPS is the notion of being in "Covenant" together, for the purpose of seeing God for Revival. There need be no ritual associated with entering into Covenant; ritual without commitment is not Covenant. But a commitment of the heart, which binds two or more hearts together in common purpose, consciously in the sight of God: that is Covenant.
Accordingly, because that a CPS is founded upon Covenant ~ which only has meaning by virtue of the fact that every "Covenant" requires God as a partner to that: therefore, selection of CPS members must be done with great care to ensure that only trusted Christians may be asked to join a Covenant Prayer Squad. I have elsewhere and oftentimes argued that one of the greatest hindrances in the churches is what the Bible refers to, and many different ways alludes to, as a "mixed multitude," that is, sinners and saints assembled together.
A CPS may of course pray for any kind of need, as they should. But the need to pray for Revival should always be kept before the group as a priority.
Regional Network of CPSs
A CPS thus serves as a meaningful 'forum,' and as an effectual 'mechanism,' for beginning to unite (at least, regionally) the hitherto widely scattered Flock of God. For, in order as multiple CPSs are formed within a geographical region (within a radius of, say, 10-15 miles or so ~ which would include an area 30 miles in diameter), those several CPSs should all then regularly come together for corporate prayer, and for other purposes and needs such as that (regional) Body of Christ may perceive.
I recommend that as soon as two CPSs are sufficiently well established (stabilized), they should begin to come together for regularly scheduled meetings, for the purpose of praying together and for mutual fellowship and support. Those corporate prayer meetings should then continue and grow in number, as new CPSs are formed and joined to that growing "network" of CPSs. Importantly, each CPS should pray and work to form other CPSs, especially within one's own region.
Now, concerning a "network" of CPSs. The diagram at the top of this page shows three different network configurations. The 'model' on the left-hand side and the one in the center, are both "hierarchical" systems, that is to say, they both are based upon the principle of control of group activities, either by one or by a very few individuals. Whereas, the 'model' depicted on the right-hand side (identified as "Distributed Network") is based upon the principle of shared responsibility. Every regional network of CPSs MUST be based upon the distributed network model. Otherwise, the very same kinds of things which have always led to corruption amongst institutional churches, will likewise undermine the effort to coordinate and facilitate regional cooperation amongst CPSs.
In line with the distributed network model, individual CPSs are encouraged to come together on a regular schedule (at least one a month), to pray together and to support the efforts of other CPSs in that regional network.
In no case should a regional network of CPSs yield to the temptation to organize itself along the lines of a conventional church.
A regional network of CPSs thus formed (as above described):
- elevates prayer to the highest priority
- establishes a solid group, and a larger network, of prayer warriors
- makes the need of Revival the primary focus
- encourages and facilitates purity as a Body of Christ (no mixed multitude)
- serves to identify and to unite a number of genuine Christians, within a geographical area
- may easily communicate and coordinate efforts with other, nearby regional CPS networks
Doubtless the above list could be expanded. But in this post, I am only laying out a rough outline of this vision. The Scripture says, that "where there is no vision, the people perish" (Proverbs 29:18).
There is another part of this vision, which I will briefly mention. I want to create a web-based, interactive portal to facilitate the formation and activities of CPS regional networks. I need tons of help with that, in the way of technical expertise and also financial assistance.
This is not "my baby." But it is my vision. It is a vision which, I believe, is very wide~without being so wide that it goes off in every direction. It is open, so that every participant can truly contribute as much as he or she is able and willing~yet, not so open that unsaved persons can intrude into that holy place (the Sanctuary, spiritually speaking), where members of Christ serve God as His priests.
As far as I'm concerned (until and unless God shows me something else), this is my proposal for the creation and construction of what I've been referring to as "Tozer's New Ark." That great man of God prophesied, more than 50 years ago, that there was then soon coming a time when every truly Holy Ghost-filled person would come out of the worldly evangelical churches, and form some kind of group of their own, a kind of "new Ark," in which they together would then "ride out the storm" (which A.W. Tozer so clearly saw that was coming).
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